‘He was taken back to his childhood and snapped’: Will Smith ‘will have therapy to resolve issues from his youth’ as he ‘battles to save his career and reputation’
- Will Smith shocked the world Sunday night when he slapped Chris Rock on the Oscars stage for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith
- Source close to Mark Mason, who co-wrote Smith’s memoir, said actor was ‘deeply triggered’ by Rock’s comments about his wife’s alopecia
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold an emergency board meeting today to discuss disciplinary action against Smith for the assault
Will Smith will have therapy for his ‘unresolved childhood issues’ as he knows he is ‘battling to save his career and reputation’ after he slapped comedian Chris Rock on-stage at the Oscars, sources claim.
A source close to Mark Manson, who co-wrote Smith’s 2021 memoir ‘Will’, said the actor was ‘deeply triggered’ by Rock’s comments about his wife’s alopecia as it took him straight back to his traumatic childhood.
Friends claim Smith reacted violently after he felt like a ‘coward’ for failing to intervene when he saw his father brutally beat up his mother aged nine.
A source close to Manson told the Sun: ‘Will knows he’s battling to save his career, his reputation and even his Oscar.
‘He’s horrified by the turn of events and is filled with a deep sense of shame.
‘He is happy to have some more therapy for his unresolved childhood issues and will do what he can to make good on his momentary lapse in judgement.
‘Essentially, though, Will was deeply triggered by Chris’s demeaning comments about his wife’s alopecia. He was taken straight back to childhood, seeing his mum getting abused by his dad.
‘This time he didn’t take it sitting down and retaliated as, unfortunately, 50 million people across the globe all saw.’
It comes as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold an emergency board meeting today to discuss disciplinary action against Smith for the assault against Rock.
A source close to Mark Manson, who co-wrote Smith’s 2021 memoir ‘Will’, said the actor was ‘deeply triggered’ by Chris Rock’s comments about his wife’s alopecia as it took him straight back to his traumatic childhood. Pictured: Will Smith and Mark Mason in 2019
Smith became emotional during his acceptance speech at the Oscars after he won the Oscar for the Best Actor
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars on Sunday, after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. On Monday, Smith apologized
Disciplinary action could include anything from forcing him to hand back his Oscar to the most severe punishment – suspension from the Academy – which would put Smith among the ranks of Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, who were both expelled for sexual misconduct.
Smith on Monday apologized for slapping Rock, saying his behavior was ‘unacceptable and inexcusable’ and left him ’embarrassed’.
Smith’s admissions in ‘Will’, which was released in November last year, shed new light on his actions at the Oscars which shocked the world
The actor admitted in his memoir ‘Will’ that being made to feel like a coward growing up was ‘my most violent trigger’ in a passage which helps explain why he slapped Rock at the Oscars.
Smith wrote that seeing his father brutally beat up his mother when he was nine years old ‘defined who I am today more than any other moment.’
The Men in Black star admitted that he ‘always thought of myself as a coward’ for failing to intervene in the beating.
He called his father a ‘violent alcoholic’ and said that he considered suicide because of the shame at not standing up to him.
Smith’s admissions in ‘Will’, which was released last November, sheds new light on his actions at the Oscars that shocked the world.
He slapped Rock after the comedian joked about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith being bald – in fact her shaved head is due to alopecia.
As Rock presented the Oscar for best documentary, Smith walked up on stage in the unscripted moment and slapped him with his right hand.
While Smith’s actions had split viewers and commentators, his reasons for acting the way he did are apparent in his memoir.
Viewers saw Smith sitting upright in his chair, eyes bulging with rage as he told Rock: ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth’.
Smith on Monday apologized for slapping Rock, saying his behavior was ‘unacceptable and inexcusable’ and left him ’embarrassed’
In ‘Will’, Smith recalled how when his career as a rapper began to dwindle, being pushed out by DJ Jazzy Jeff, his longtime collaborator, hurt him deeply.
Smith wrote that the episode ‘activated my most violent trigger: I’d been fighting all my life not to be a coward.’
Smith traces it back to watching his own father Willard Smith Sr beat up his mother when he was a child and was haunted by guilt for the rest of his life.
Smith wrote that he has ‘always thought of myself as a coward’ for failing to intervene in these incidents.
Smith recalled one horrific episode when he was nine when he ‘watched my father punch my mother on the side of her head so hard that she collapsed’.
He wrote: ‘I saw her spit blood. That moment, in that bedroom, probably more than any other moment, has defined who I am today’.
In a now highly relevant part he went on: ‘Within everything I have done since then – the award and accolades, the spotlights and the attention, the characters and the laughs, there has been a subtle string of apologies to my mother for my inaction that day.
‘For failing her in that moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a coward’.
Smith admitted in the book that his father – who he called ‘Daddio’ – was ‘violent, he was an alcoholic’ but he was also at every ‘game, play or recital’.
In ‘Will’, Smith recalled how when his career as a rapper began to dwindle, being pushed out by DJ Jazzy Jeff, his longtime collaborator, hurt him deeply. Pictured together in 1986
Jada supported her husband after he defended her by striding on to stage to smack Rock. They’re pictured at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Willard was sober at every one of Smith’s movie premieres as well and he still regarded him as his ‘hero’.
But Smith wrote that because of his father he always felt ‘haunted by an agonizing sense that I am failing the women I love’.
Smith wrote that he would ‘always do too much’ in his relationships and was ‘desperately trying to please’ his partner.
As a result he became a ‘pleaser’ and developed his public persona – as an entertainer and actor.
Smith wrote that when he was 13 his father hit his mother for the last time and it was one of two times in his life when he considered suicide.
Smith’s difficult relationship with other men erupted when Jada became friends with the late rapper Tupac Shakur, a friendship which Smith says ‘tortured’ him.
Smith felt that Tupac was more manly and he had a ‘raging jealousy’ towards him that made him feel ‘inadequate’.
When Jada chose Smith he felt it was a ‘twisted kind of victory’ which left him feeling ashamed of himself.
Smith appeared to allude to his inner turmoil in his acceptance speech for the Best Actor Oscar when he talked about ‘protecting’ his family.
He said that for his mother ‘a lot of this moment is really complicated for me’.
Smith said: ‘I know to do what we do, you’ve got to be able to take abuse, have people talk crazy about you. In this business you’ve got to be able to have people disrespecting you.
‘You’ve got to smile and pretend like it’s OK.’
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